Linguine With Seafood
Cantina del Ponte

Cantina del Ponte

The Butlers Wharf Building 36c Shad Thames London, SE1 2YE, United Kingdom

Beer • Wine • Italian • European


"Cantina del Ponte is on my old work’s stomping ground – Shad Thames, which boasts one of the best views in London, that of Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. It’s right next door to Le Pont de la Tour, the only restaurant I’ve not visited on Butler’s Wharf, my bosses would swan off there at lunchtime and my work colleagues and I would slum it at Ask pizza, if we were lucky. It still looks the same ten years on and since the height of its popularity in the late 90s. We took the kids in the school holidays, after an afternoon in the Launch Pad at the Science Museum with a stinking cold I was longing for a large glass of red and a hearty bowl of pasta. When we arrived it was pretty quiet, but then it was only 6.30. We wanted to sit outside and admire the view, and also so we didn’t have to worry so much about the kids behaving but it was a bit too nippy. It’s not very often we take the kids to ‘posh’ restaurants where there’s nothing for them to do, no crayons or colouring in, just boring adult conversation. We devised a game of I Spy to keep them occupied, it didn’t really work though. The waiting staff were great with the kids and were very patient and helpful, especially as it took at least 15 minutes for Little Miss Fussy Eater to order! Having a bad cold I needed comfort food and red wine, of course. There was an extensive wine list so we’d recommend it to wine lovers, I had the Syrah, Mandrarossa, Sicily, 2009 and ordered the marinated salmon potato fish cake, green salad with cherry vinegar fish cake to start, which turned out more like a mini fish pie. This worried me slightly as i am not a fish pie fan but I really enjoyed it, comfort in a pot. Ade and Oliver shared the deep-fried buffalo mozzarella with anchovies and tomato terrine, the cheese was of excellent quality and the terrine tasted of sweet Baby San Marzano Tomatoes but the anchovy was almost missed. Charlotte, 7, is the world’s fussiest eater, which we are trying to change, so she just had the homemade bread selection, although we all tucked into it as she also has the world’s smallest belly. Loved the crispy flatbread and the cute little wooden box and the olive oil was wonderful. I had been advised to eat chilli and garlic for my cold so I had the spaghetti with fresh chilli, garlic extra virgin olive oil, it’s been a long time since I ordered such a simple dish. It did the trick, fresh, not too hot, huge chunks of garlic, it is still one of my best-loved dishes. Ade ordered something that he wouldn’t usually order, the spaghetti with fresh seafood, prawn baby octopus, chilli tomato, it was absolutely huge, and jam-packed with mussels. He said it had too many baby octopuses (or is that octopi or octopodes, I’m not all that good with plurals) and not enough prawn(s). I don’t know how, but he managed to eat almost all of it and said he’d definitely order it again. Charlotte said the baby octopus looked like Squidward Tentacles from Spongebob Squarepants… I thought she’d get upset till she started chanting ‘eat the head, eat the head’ Strange girl! Oliver, 9 1/2, had the fried fresh squid with mayonnaise and the rocket parmesan salad (he’s the least fussy child I know and will eat almost anything, the total opposite to his sister). The coating was a bit on the soft side, no real texture or bite to it but the quality of the squid was excellent. The rocket salad was polished off too – one of his 5-a-day, tick! Charlotte ordered the Homemade lasagne, meat ragu, tomato sauce béchamel, it wasn’t on the children’s menu. I say children’s menu, it’s more a list of three things they can have a child’s portion of, so we improvised. I thought she’d freak out as there was no layer of pasta on top, it was like an upside down lasagne but she seemed to enjoy it and ate 3/4 of it – believe me that’s good (we may have to call in Supernanny about this girl). Dessert time is the kid’s favourite time. I ended the evening with an Absolut raspberry sensation cocktail which went perfectly with my dessert, panna cotta with fresh berries, not sure if that was a subconscious decision. It was gorgeous and there were plenty of excellent quality berries alongside it and a refreshing coulis. It made a pleasant change to have a substantial amount of the coulis. Ade had the warm cherry tart pistachio ice cream, a little warm cherry pie topped with pistachio ice cream, the flavours went perfectly and the pastry case was light and crumbly (if just a little burnt around the crust). Oliver opted for the almond semi freddo caramel sauce and he loved the sweet, coated nuts. Charlotte opted for her usual – vanilla ice cream (she left the scoop of chocolate) . Everything was good value, great sized portions, fresh excellent quality ingredients and of course, a superb location. As their website says, Cantina del Ponte subscribes to the three R’s that make Italian food truly great: Rustic, Robust and Reasonably priced. And just when the kids were starting to run our of things to play I Spy with, some gorgeous Italian biscuits arrived at the table, the perfect ending."

Positano

Positano

124 High Street, Guildford, United Kingdom

Pizza • Sushi • Asiatic • European


"Lovely historic building, not overly large so space limited and would recommend booking during busy periods. Very friendly and attentive staff who also had a good knowledge of the building history which was nice to hear. Went for a late lunch and took advantage of their fixed price two course menu, a couple of cocktails and some bread and olives. Very large bowl of olives which was nice, they were pitted and we do prefer non pitted as tend to be more flavourful, however these were still enjoyable and a good sized portion. Bread was reasonable but nothing outstanding. Bruschetta nice, sweet tomatoes and fresh, street pizza found a little sloppy and a bit bland personally. Mains an Arrabiata sauce they kindly changed penne to spaghetti for my partner, pasta nicely cooked, sauce could have used a little more chilli, simple but tasty overall. I had the Carbonara which tasted creamy but as I had a little bit of a cold I'm not sure if it actually had a touch of cream but it certainly wasn't a full cream base which was good. I did find it although rich slightly bland in both the pancetta and the cheese, again I had a slight cold but expected the flavours to be a bit more punchy. Couldn't manage a dessert but we did both go for a liqueur coffee, myself a Scottish and my partner an Italian, both were pleasant and well made. The two cocktails as well had a decent measure of alcohol, quite well balanced flavour wise and whilst I've had much better they were certainly enjoyable. Definitely would give it a try again, sniffle free to give a fair shot. The staff and the very reasonable price for lunch would make a visit attractive, but would also like to go for an evening meal and a more relaxed experience."

New Street

New Street

16a New Street London, EC2M 4TR, EC2M 4RH, United Kingdom

Fish • Steak • Grill • British


"I've never had an insulting restaurant experience in my life. after a beautiful meal, with the exception that our medium-sized steak was burned to a crack, the restaurant had a problem with its card machine. after inserting my card it immediately said that the pencil has exceeded without the possibility to insert a pencil. After I tried three times, I asked if we could go to the next room to solve the machine problem from the table (which tried to finish her wein.) the first words the manager said while I looked seriously, did I have to call the police? I was absolutely shocked, insulted and understandably angry when I was a business owner and tried to take my employees for a nice meal. you have to pretend to smoke the place, or try not to pay while your card machine was the problem, is absolutely beyond the friend. I asked a manager and he said he was the manager! after additional argument where I had to demand that he retrieve the amount on the machine (I had to ask repeatedly) Apple pay worked well. I should also note that earlier in the evening a man at another table had the exact same issue and we heard him say he had no time to speak with a manager and wanted to pay only his bill with his card. I will not be back, and this restaurant must seriously consider training its employees in the elite. when they say they call the police on a customer when the card machine is not working crazy."